Thursday, October 14, 2010

Spaghetti Carbonara

Hey all, sorry for my extended absence. My little brother's wedding was awesome, but the 11-hour car ride home left me exhausted! Anyway, a recap of my trip is still to come, but for now, another sort of recap. As I thought of Sean and his new bride Melissa enjoying their Vegas honeymoon, it led me to reminisce about my own.

Years ago, when I was a grad student studying Italian art and architecture, I was fortunate to get to travel to Rome and take Tony with me. When we got married we were too poor to take a honeymoon immediately after our wedding -- so this trip, a year later, is what we now refer to as our honeymoon.


2003 - we were babies!


We did some sightseeing.


I did some research, which was basically...more sightseeing. (Ah, I loved grad school.)


We drank a lot of wine late at night and took tipsy self-portraits.


And, oh yes, we ate.


Tony still raves about the spaghetti carbonara he ate at a tiny restaurant somewhere outside the Vatican.

So, while I was thinking about all this, and I came across a carbonara recipe in Urban Vegan, I knew I had to give it a shot.


I have to say it's one of the most unappetizing-looking things I've ever eaten! I honestly don't know if I'll make it again because it just looks so gross. But the flavor was good. The sauce was very rich -- buttery and smoky at the same time. Tempeh bacon takes the place of the pancetta in the original so, texturally, it's quite different. Not being a bacon eater, it made no difference to me, and Tony liked it for what it was.

Buona sera!

3 comments:

  1. Do you make your tempeh bacon? I'm going to give it a shot this weekend, and I have to say I'm a little nervous about it! Also, I'm so jealous about your trip to Italy. My fiance and I are getting married soon and will probably take a honeymoon a year after our wedding, too, lol.

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  2. Thanks for sharing your "honeymoon" pics. How fun!!! Can't wait to go there.

    BTW, you don't have any long term parking tips for NYC, do you? I don't assume you would since you wouldn't have to long term park there, but I'm trying to research whether it would be substantially cheaper to park in New Jersey or at an airport or ????

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  3. lindsey, i made the tempeh bacon using the vegan brunch recipe. i like to use a serrated knife to get the slices super thin, so they soak up the marinade and bake up as crispy as possible. congrats on your engagement! :)

    jenny, on www.bestparking.com you can find the cheapest garages in the area you're visiting. not sure how garages compare to airport parking, tho, sorry!

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